Thursday, May 22, 2014

(POLITICO) Jay Leno might be gone from late night, but he still had some material for an event in Israel ribbing President Barack Obama and the Mideast peace process.

“Obama has declared the month of May Jewish American Heritage Month. He is calling it an opportunity to renew our ‘unbreakable bond with the nation of Israel,’” Leno said Thursday at an event honoring Michael Bloomberg. “And he knows it’s unbreakable because he’s been trying to break it for the last five years.”

Leno spoke at the event, where Bloomberg was given the first Genesis Prize by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Haaretz. The award honors a person who has excelled in their professional field and embodies the character of the Jewish people.

The former host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” also made a joke at the expense of Secretary of State John Kerry, who recently walked back comments last month in which he said Israel risks becoming an “apartheid state.”

“I’ve been doing my research. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, here in Israel, the most popular boy’s name is Noam. Noam is the most popular boy’s name in the country. The least popular boy’s name? John Kerry,” Leno joked.

Leno often took some humorous jabs at the president, which Obama acknowledged as part of a reel he appeared in February, alongside other stars, honoring Leno’s send-off from the late-night program.

“Jay, you’ve made a whole lot of jokes about me over the years, but do not worry: I’m not upset,” Obama said in the video. “On a totally unrelated note, I’ve decided to make you my new ambassador to Antarctica. Hope you got a warm coat, funny man.”